Unlicensed clinics, IV drips in hotel rooms and consultations with foreign doctors who hold no work permit — authorities have now taken all of this on in the resort areas of southern Bali. Owners of villas, hostels and guesthouses are being asked to send sick guests to clinics and hospitals that hold valid permits.
The inspections will cover Canggu, Seminyak, Kuta and Nusa Dua. The head of the health department, Bagus Padma Puspita, put it this way: “We do not tolerate illegal medical practice that can put patient safety at risk.” The checks target clinics without an operating licence, intravenous infusions given outside medical facilities, and foreign doctors seeing patients without a work permit.
Vitamin and hangover IV drips have long been offered with delivery to a villa or hotel. The authorities classify such an infusion as a medical procedure: only a licensed facility with staff holding local permits may administer it.
Foreign medics themselves are not barred from practising in Indonesia: they were granted the right to work in the country in 2023. But a licence is issued only after their qualifications have been verified and they have completed adaptation at a local facility, and seeing patients while bypassing this procedure is precisely what counts as illegal practice.
In parallel, around-the-clock emergency care is being built up in the south of the island. Ambulances based at thirteen public health clinics have been brought together under a single dispatch system, and the average arrival time has fallen from just over half an hour to 10–14 minutes. The same system also covers remote consultations with a doctor and transport for patients who do not need emergency care. The around-the-clock number to call for help is 081139919119.
On the prevention side, rabies is singled out: more than 80% of dogs have been vaccinated, and the rabies vaccine is available at clinics in tourist areas, including Sangeh and Uluwatu. Sanitary inspections are being carried out at hotels, restaurants and small food outlets.
Back in June, a cosmetology clinic was shut down in Bali that belonged to foreigners: it was not listed in the Health Ministry’s register of medical facilities, operated without an operating licence, and patients were seen by specialists from Russia and Armenia who had no permits. That inspection was carried out by several agencies at once: the Health Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the immigration service, the labour ministry, the police and the security services.
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